France v Germany preview

Joachim Löw has fired a warning to other quarter-final contenders in Brazil that the best is yet to come from his Germany side ahead of the Friday evening clash against France in Rio.

Germany defeated Algeria after 120 minutes on Tuesday, by two goals to one, in an unconvincing fashion. The national team came in for some negative opinions post-match with Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker even snapping at a TV camerman for questioning the side's performance.

The DFB-team smashed Portugal in the opening round of action, but stuttered against Ghana and the United States. Thomas Müller has helped fire Germany through the tournament with four goals to his name. Others, like Mesut Özil and Mario Götze have still to reach their peak in Brazil.

"We haven't shown a consistent level of performance so far," the Germany boss said. "Teams like Ghana and USA had nothing to lose and everything to win, this game is different."

"We have not yet delivered our best possible performances, that is still to come. We had a very bad first half against Algeria, but were better in the second. The team showed they can fight, Algeria fought hard, but we fought harder.

"We brought them to their knees in the second half and we really had a strong will to win. Some people have said 'who are Algeria?' but that shows they have little footballing knowledge.

A long history

France provides the toughest test so far in the tournament for the German national team. Didier Deschamps' side have been in dominant form, qualifying from their group phase with relative ease and cruising past Nigeria in the round of 16. Deschamps will welcome Raphael Varane and Mamadou Sakho back to the team for the quarter-final and both will bolster defensive options.

Even without Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery and Manchester City's Samir Nasri, the latter seen as a disruptive influence on the team morale, France have put to bed the demons of 2010.

"There is no apprehension or fear," Deschamps said at the pre-match press conference. "There is no reason for us to feel any. Germany are a solid side with lots of experience of this level but this game will be a pleasure for us and we are preparing ourselves as well as possible for it."

Germany - or West Germany, better said - have been a tough opponent for France in the history of the World Cup. France lost in both 1982 and 1986, both times at the sem-final stage, against their old footballing foe.

"As far as we are concerned, we live in the present," France's current goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said. "There is a long history between both nations but we will concentrate on our own match and we want to write our own history."

New French teamgeist

Former European Cup winner Deschamps took over a difficult post in 2010 following the debacle in South Africa when Nicolas Anelka was sent home early in the tournament after a revolt against coach Raymond Domenech.

France haven't won the World Cup since 1998, but did reach the final in 2006. Their title defense in 2002 was also tame, dropping out without scoring a single goal in Korea and Japan.

A change of the old-guard has taken place and Deschamps has favored the collective harmony over individual brilliance, with Karim Benzema of Real Madrid, Olivier Giroud from Arsenal and Juventus' Paul Pogba starring in Brazil.

"Experience is more on their side, but we will play our game," Deschamps said when asked how the younger French team shapes up against Germany.

"We are not afraid of anything," Lloris, who plays in England with Tottenham, added. "We are fully aware of the fact that in one match, just about anything is possible."